


No Limit on Love

by GoblinElectromancer



Category: Magic: The Gathering (Card Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Cussing, Eventual Romance, First Meetings, Humor, In Character, Izzet League, M/M, Major Character Injury, One Shot, Orzhov Syndicate (Magic: The Gathering), Pre-War of the Spark, Romance, These Creative Swearwords Are Canon Compliant, Urban Fantasy, Weird Fluff, What Is Ral Zarek's Tattoo Actually, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24180424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoblinElectromancer/pseuds/GoblinElectromancer
Summary: When danger interrupts his morning commute, Tomik would normally turn around. But, if an irate drake tosses a broken League Guildmage in his path, he has no choice but to do the right thing, right?After his well-meaning rescue operation turns into a day-ruining saga, Tomik has to recover his losses somehow. At the very least, he aught to undo that spell he laid.
Relationships: Tomik Vrona/Ral Zarek
Comments: 11
Kudos: 21





	No Limit on Love

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: the characters and setting portrayed here belong to Wizards of the Coast. This is fan created work for fans, and I claim no rights to Wizards' intellectual property
> 
> Thanks for taking a chance on my 2nd Ao3 fic. It takes place just before Dragon's Maze, and expands on a tidbit from The Gathering Storm: that Ral and Tomik met through Teysa networking with the Izzet League.
> 
> This fic assumes Teysa reached Ral just before the Maze was solved, and that Tomik aided the connection. There's no Living Guildpact or Gatewatch yet (wow! talk about a deep cut!). There is lots of Ravnica lore and very serious treatment of the world/canon, even with stuff I totally made up like whatever the f*** Ral's tattoo is. 
> 
> Cards referenced in this fic (besides the obvious OG Ral and Tomik) are: Drake Familiar, Crackling Drake, Power Leak, Goblin Electromancer, Mizzix of the Izmagnus, Gift of Orzhova.
> 
> On a side note, I used to work in Manhattan, so Ravnica has a special place in my heart. You should never not expect devoted Ravnica fics from this former NYC theatre artist.

On a day like today, Tomik would gladly shirk his responsibilities. He could see himself wandering the streets of the Tenth in his best robes, licking iced strawberries in the midday sun. When he closed his eyes, he imagined strolling beneath the boughs of Vitu-Ghazi, and smelled the hot scent of Viashino curry billowing from his favorite street stall.

His opened eyes relayed the spires of Orzhova and the typical hallmarks of his working day. He let out a resigned sigh, opening the hatch to his rooftop roost. Under the ever-present shadows of the spires, he erased thoughts of play from his mind.

“Oi, Stein,” he muttered. A stony rattle answered his call. Then nothing. “Tch, Stein, tchtchtchtch—“

Tomik ducked his head beneath the oilskin tarp that sheltered his gargoyle. Stein sat motionless, its head cocked at its typical dopey angle. As he pulled harder on the contract that bound it to awaken, Tomik realized the chains of his spell had worn thin. Alright, so he’d forgotten to do maintainance again this month. May Karlov sue him.

A fist on Stein’s thigh and a quick rattling of the contract’s chains didn’t help. “By the Obzedaat’s ghostly honor, wake up!” He shouted that and a burst of white mana into Stein’s ear. Tomik didn’t even mind that his summons had cracked Stein’s ear clean off. The blasted stone heap finally roused, trotting to its takeoff pad and settling precisely at the stepstool Tomik used to mount it.

Tomik hoisted himself into the padded saddle on Stein’s back. It was moist. Tarnish and rot. He’d left the bloody saddle in the rain again. _Another day in the life of Tomik Vrona,_ he griped to himself.

He’d best just get on with it. He whisked seal, lighter and wax from his saddlebag, and the day’s itemized list of addresses. He stuck the list to the back of Stein’s neck, pressing it among the chipped globs of past seals. Yellow-white light illuminated the text and glowed dimly in Stein’s many cracks. Tomik sat back, taking a deep breath of spring air as Stein’s stone wings ground open. He and his gargoyle jalopy glided out to greet the bustling morning.

Although getting them in the air was tricky, Tomik much preferred the autonomous programming of gargoyles. He’d sooner fly Stein at a lazy clip around the precinct than wrangle an archon or pegasus. 

Thankfully, cruising altitude for gargoyles hung well below the range of living winged creatures. He had the Azorius to thank for that handy law. The Three Pillars were good for something, at least.

As Stein meandered along its course Tomik gradually unwound. It was truly no matter to him that his work weeks stretched 21 days long. That’s just what happened when one ascended to the right and proper service of capital. Tovrnan factory workers had it so, so much worse than this. He could manage gliding around on a damp saddle in the name of an honest day’s work.

He had become so used to flying that he no longer marveled at the streets criscrossing at a deadly drop far below him. He didn’t pay attention to the copper-grafted spires, the streaks of pigeon droppings, or the vastness of his little corner of Ravnica. This time in the air he generally spent within his mind. 

_Now, remember Mistress Kolchek is 50 years behind on her tithe, and very good at unraveling past compulsions. Better be sure I renew her contract with a few extra chainlinks---I have got to get the old frog to pay up or else I’m stuck with her---_

An unbelievable screeching got him looking directly up, into the scarred wings of a… _drake?_ Tomik’s ears rang in the silence before its next earsplitting scream. _What in debtor’s hooks is it doing in our precinct?_

“Stein, abandon course.” Tomik slapped a hand on the fresh seal, reaching for the mana chain that would give him full control of Stein’s motion. _There must have been a power leak – bloody tarnished coins, please say nothing went wrong in the Obzedaat…_

Tomik imagined a dozen frightful scenarios all at once. With the Orzhov’s binding magics being notoriously convoluted, and the sheer weight of its bureaucracy piled on the scaffold of cheap spellwork, its magical infrastructure could rupture at any second. Some overstuffed Karlov had to have cut corners somewhere--- _the drake, Tomik!_

It’d dived down from a nauseating height, then dashed back up from the smoggy depths to swoop dangerously close to a skywalk. As its horned head grazed the buttresses, chunks of stone rained on the street and the nearest gargoyle fliers carreened Tomik’s way.

Stone wings grated and crunched, and Stein’s cracks deepened. “Up!” Tomik screeched, yanking Stein out of the tangle of gargoyle parts and over a domed conservatory. He scanned for a place to land that wasn’t covered in people or anti-perching spikes. 

The drake’s rattling call made him urge Stein to cling to the closest skywalk, causing him to cling to his gargoyle’s neck for fear of plummeting to his death. From his terrifying, but at least a little safe vantage he could see the drake swooping and writhing about, its wings and body laced with electrostatic energy that at any second could discharge and fry the entire block. It must have already fed on something electrical, damn—

Between wingbeats and electromana pulses, Tomik saw great bands around its tail and chest, a contraption on its head…a harness for a saddle, and two small figures riding it! Anger knotted Tomik’s guts. “Absolutely not,” he raged into the air. “You crazy Izzet bastards, ruining everyone’s morning! Where are the arresters when you need them--”

Clawhold by treacharous clawhold, Tomik urged Stein onto the skywalk proper, finding all of its foot traffic had vanished. He’d probably get fined for perching his gargoyle here, but he could make a decent case for getting that fine transferred to two particular League Guildmages.

Just as he’d tumbled off Stein’s back and onto the skywalk, a shuddering, booming crack dropped him flat. Straight ahead, the drake’s thrashing body had punched a hole in a tower, causing dust and chunks of brick to rain onto the skywalk. Tomik watched it roll against the jagged rubble, breaking free of its harness and heaving the two riders into the air. As the drake soared off, its riders fell like dolls down a flight of stairs, hitting stone crenellations and spiked minarets along the way. 

By some miracle, both riders hit the skywalk. One, a leather and brass clad goblin, had fallen very close to Tomik. He scrambled for her, reaching for the vial chained around his neck and readying to break it – but as he started to throw, the goblin caught his hand. “Kah, don’t waste that on me! Save it for him, he’s made of softer stuff than I am.”

As the goblin groaned and heaved herself upright, Tomik scanned the rubble-streaked skywalk. His ebbing adrenaline allowed the wounded whimpers that’d been stabbing his ears to actually register. “Ahhh, Ric-Rak, are you alive? Ahhnn, Niv’s balls…”

Tomik scrambled for the heaped, dusty body of a human man, blinking once to wall out the sight of his blood and grotesquely twisted arm. Seeing no reason to hesitate, he smashed his vial into the pavestones.

Spirit-forms arose from the glowing white plasma released at impact. First his mother, then father, then his hunched grandmother whirled towards him, asking in an ethereal whisper: “are you hurt, son?”

“No,” Tomik answered quickly, knowing his family could get long-winded. “It’s him.” He jabbed his finger towards the bloodied human, signaling his family ghosts to swirl into his eyes and chest. His cries ceased as they smothered his consciousness and took command of his shattered body. Gold light welled in his wounds and coated his eyes. His breathing evened. 

Tomik knew that with wounds that bad, his family ghosts could only do so much for the man. He added, in his own subtle way, a chain of magic barring the wounded mage from his destructive elemental power. It was for his own good – wrecked as he was, he aught not strain his precious energy by tapping into Ravnica’s raw elemental forces. _Crazy Izzet bastards. They all aught to leave well enough alone and stick to societal magics. Good way to get yourself killed, messing with the elements._

Tomik filed the mage’s chain beside the others rattling in his subconscious self. He felt no heavier having done it. 

“Oi, Stein,” he called. Though more cracked than ever before, his gargoyle made its obedient way to Tomik’s side. “Lie down.”

The goblin swayed into view as Stein thudded down. “Niv’s great, sagging, scaly balls,” she croaked. “This is bad. Lemme help you get him up—“

Though bruised and bleeding herself, the goblin did a more than even share of rolling her fellow guildmage up Stein’s tail and into the hollow behind his wings. “I’m taking him to a hospital,” Tomik said as he struggled into Stein’s saddle. As he said it, the goblin teetered and grabbed her head. “You’d better come too.” He heard something pop as he took her hand to help her settle behind him on Stein’s neck. That was her shoulder coming out of joint, most likely, if her cussing and howling were any clue.

The goblin mage swore all the way to the doors of the Charitable Hospital of Orzhova…and beyond them. Tomik’s ears were glad to part with her as she entered intake. As a clan of medics hastened towards him he dismounted, lowering Stein so they could more easily wrangle the human guildmage onto a stretcher. An austere, white-robed doctor handed Tomik an empty vial, saying: “It’s against protocol for us to allow any foreign ghosts to accompany patients inside. I’m sorry if this causes any inconvenience.”

“None whatsoever,” Tomik sighed. His family ghosts answered his mental call to kindly return to storage. Mother with a pert eyeroll, father chiding “you know you should talk to us more often,” and Grandmother grumbling about not getting enough excitement these days. Tomik stopped the vial and fixed it to his chain. He saw the pain lines in the Izzet guildmage’s face begin to resurface, and a stout ghost in a medic’s uniform emerge from the ceiling at the doctor’s call. 

After an aggrieved moan, panic entered the Izzet mage’s eyes. “What in Rix Maadi’s flaming gash am I doing in an Orzhov hospital!”

A medic touched Tomik by the shoulder to take him aside as the howling mage was carried away. “Now, what is your relationship to the patient?”

“No! Don’t you dare put another ghost in me!”

“I don’t know him at all,” Tomik answered after clearing his throat. He relayed the tale of the drake, the accident, and so on to the questioning medic. By the time he’d walked himself and Stein outdoors, his arms and back had disintegrated to quivering jelly. The near deadly events of the morning had left him wrung. He slipped into a park bench on the hospital grounds, heeling Stein at his feet so he could lean onto his gargoyle.

 _I can’t believe that just happened. What were they doing riding a bloody drake in the first place? I really aught to just give myself the day off._

Tomik let go of his thoughts as, from beneath his robe, a yellow light flickered. He drew out the flickering vial, reluctantly opening its stopper. His mother in minature, plasmic form wisped through the crack. “Dearest Tomik, I cannot go another moment without telling you what I heard that guildmage think as I was entering his mind.”

Before Tomik could prod her to get on with it, she projected, very loudly, in the mage’s peculiar rakish voice: “Damn, look at the face on him. I gotta spend more time around Orzhova.”

“Mother!” Tomik cupped his hands around the vial, threatening to close its stopper right then and there. 

“He thought that in the midst of a near death experience. Now isn’t that flash, son, for a man to be keen on you through all that pain? He may be reckless but a League Guildmage is very intelligent—“

“Mother, please. I have to get to work,” Tomik gritted, clamping the stopper down. His mother remained in a lick of ghostly flame wiggling from the crack. She had, as always, one last thing to say before making her exit.

“I’m only saying it because I hate to see my handsome boy so lonely.” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh, Ric-Rak, we are so blown.” For the second time that minute, Ral tried to slap his palm to his head. Not surprisingly, it was still fused to a splint and stuck to the arm now pierced by an elaborate system of pins and hardware. There was so much metal in him right now, he may as well have gotten electrografted by Mizzix himself. “The drake really didn’t come back?”

“Sure as Rakdos’ nuts are flaming…it didn’t.”

Despair wrenched Ral’s heart. Another unwanted review of this long day got him sinking down in a miserable heap into his pillow. Four hours in spell-aided surgery, two hours trying to get Trivaz to forward him some money, three hours laying in misery in this stupid hospital knowing his benefactor had outright refused to help him. “No I will not pay a healer to mend you immediately. You will suffer for your mistake, you loathsome amateur!”

Trivaz’s words scored lines in Ral’s mind that cut straight to his most vulnerable parts. Amateur? Him? Why did the thought hurt so much? He felt raw, every bit the words he’d been running from forever. Urchin, no-name, poor boy, tool. Not an Electromancer worth the League’s resources. A tinkerer and rain-conjurer. An imposter who reeked of Tovrna’s alleys no matter what plane he inhabited. 

In the end he’d accepted he was stuck in this hospital, recovering in the slowest way possible until the Orzhov doctors had deemed him fit for release, accruing debt the likes of which could ruin his life. Forget his life, dammit, this could ruin all the gains he’d made with Niv. It could punch him out of the running for the maze…damn! Though he tried not to let his feelings show, he moaned “the data…” into his free hand.

“Yep. The data.” 

Ric-Rak dug into her sheer hospital shift, then plunked a bottle of clear goblish firewater on the tray beside Ral’s bed. His mouth watered for want of that spicy, homebrewed rot-gut as Ric-Rak poured a hefty dose into the glass that was meant to hold his water. 

“I felt better, so I left the hospital and tried to go through the wreckage to salvage our instruments. But vedalken arresters had set up shop and they caught me creeping around. Even with their “evidence” being our property and all…they didn’t let me take it.”

“I know we were on to something,” Ral murmured. “We fed that thing enough power to keep it more than happy—“

“Yeah, and then it realized it could get those two annoying shits off its back by zapping them to cinders. It got too strong too fast, I think. Either that or drakes just aren’t meant to be tamed.”

Ral grinned weakly at Ric-Rak’s baiting. “And goblins aren’t meant to be mages.”

“Damn right they’re not,” Ric-Rak roared. She pounded her fist on the tray, then sucked down her own healthy dose of firewater. “I don’t think Trivaz is ever gonna sponsor us again,” she said bitterly. “We’re outta commission, Ral. But you’re alive, so that’s good!”

Ral gulped his firewater with help from his more mobile arm. A firey thought straggled through his utter dejection. “Out of commission? Us? No. We’re too smart for that. We’ll fix this, without Trivaz, and prove to Niv we’re still worth a shot at the maze.”

“I can still fight, says the dead Wojeck!” Ric-Rak mimicked being pierced by an arrow and dying tragically. “I’m glad to hear you’re still your feisty self.” She flicked her hand and the bump on her back (wait…the bump on her back? Had it always been there? For that matter…how had she snuck a handle of goblish liquor back into the hospital?) dissolved into a very familiar shape. Ral sat suddenly upright, feeling like he was breaching from a deep grave. “I almost wasn’t gonna give you this,” said Ric-Rak. “I thought you’d given up.”

Relief bled from Ral’s pores as Ric-Rak lay his accumulator on the bed. He touched its brassy surface immediately, soothed by the hum of a fully charged mizzuim crystal, perfectly tuned to pull micropulses of electromana from the air. “How the—“

“You gotta spend more time around goblins,” she laughed. “You wouldn’t be surprised, then, to find there’s a great deal humans don’t notice. Luckily the Orzhov is swimming with humans! So here I am and here your accumulator is, and not man or ghost was ever the wiser.”

Ral took a long, painful breath, aware his face was reddening. Anger welled in him as he reached within for his conductive power. He felt the mizzium humming, the electromana tubes in the walls, and the faint breaths of ions gathering in the distant clouds. Though his accumulator glowed, and its crystal responded to his now-familiar touch, its power core gave off only a few sparks. 

He took another angry breath. He had suspected, and had chosen not to believe – chosen to deny entirely – that the heavy blanket of doubt on his mind was more than just his own self-pity. “They put a limiter on me,” he gritted.

“A – what now? That is so illegal!”

“They must have done it while I was under.” A hail of sparks flew from his fist, sounding on the metal bits in his arm. As he pushed, the limiter pushed back, looping another coil of despair around his heart. “They must mean to keep me here as long as possible, to rack up my bill after I refused their expensive treatment.”

“Oh no.” A grin split Ric-Rak’s face. She answered Ral’s sparks with a few of her own. “That won’t do. Should we experiment?”

Ral had to fight hard to convert the no rising in his chest to a yes. “Help me outta this damn bed,” he panted. “Should be easy enough to trace the mage who put this bullshit on me…” Ral stopped before the limiter smothered him in one more coil. 

As Ric-Rak got him standing upright, and strapped his precious accumulator on herself, Ral reminded himself how easy this should be.The thing about binding magics, compulsions, and all other hieromantic spells was this: they required some kind of being-to-being connection. As easily as Ral could trace his power to the elemental forces of flame and water, the mage who’d crafted his limiter could trace theirs to the bonds of society and sentience. 

In theory – and Ral had very narrow (albeit harrowing) experience with this theory – he could run his awareness back to the limiter’s caster the same way he ran along the conduits of blue and red mana. It’d be hard, and very literally out of his element. But he should be able to do it. He just had to push through this bedamned black depression and blinding white compulsion to obey.

“Storm and thunder,” he heard Ric-Rak murmur as she finished securing his accumulator rig to her tiny body. “It’s so smooth! You’ve got to show me how to tune the crystals like this…later.” She leaned into Ral to help him walk. Though half his size, and battered nearly as bad as he was, her arm braced him like an iron bar. She blew open the door to his hospital room with a burst of electromana shot from his gauntlet. A stunned commotion began in the halls beyond.

“Nicely done,” Ral mustered. He could hardly grin, though he wanted to. He stared within, at the coils of the limiter strangling his conduit. More dark thoughts cascaded through his mind. He let them hit him, taking the full force of many emotional aches he’d long since buried. Lovers surfaced, as did his cruelty to them. When he faced the memories, the limiter’s loops took the form of a chain. Typical. Bloody. Orzhov. 

Ral could see a faint, gold-lined shadow of that chain stretching away from his body. “That way,” he pointed. “Oh, _damn_ this hurts.”

Ric-Rak pumped another charge into the gauntlet. “Let’s find the asshole who did this to you. RAAH! STEP OFF, BLASTED COINFUCKING SOULSTEALING ORZHOV BLATHERBRAINS—”

\------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oof.” Tomik slouched into his grandmother’s old squishy chair, his favorite, and relaxed ito the welcome solitude of his reading room. “This. Day. This tarnished tiresome day.”

Because it hadn’t been enough to diligently return to work after a near death experience. Teysa had to find him at the very end of his rounds and berate him for missing an opportunity to network with the Izzet League.

_Like one goblin grunt and chemister’s lackey are a worthy connection _, he’d thought, and made a grave mistake saying to her.__

____

____

He recalled the heat rising in his benefactor’s face as she very slowly informed him that he had not encountered a goblin grunt and chemister’s lackey. He had brought the guildmages Ric-Rak and Ral Zarek to the Charitable Hospital. Mages of exceptional talent – green, mind, and very rash – but known in Izzet circles to have immense skill. 

_Also, _Teysa had scolded him, _Never make the mistake of thinking anyone at lower standing than you isn’t worth your time. Even if they had been grunts, I still would be here disciplining you now.___

__

__

____

____

A dressing down of that nature, coming from someone like Teysa, was downright infuriating. Tomik tried to find room in his mind to realize he had done wrong by thinking less of the Izzet mages. He knew he’d acted against his principles. He wanted to say he could confront his stuck-up behavior, but he honestly didn’t have the energy for it right now. 

He ached all over. He felt agitated, as if something more than the events of this day were pulling at his strings. He needed to focus, take a willow tonic, and relax. 

He couldn’t remember the exact words Teysa had said next. Something to do with _you know I want mizzium _and _when they are done healing, talk to them.___

_____ _

_____ _

In the meantime, as she’d made it plain, he was welcome to get some rest. So he heaved from grandma’s chair, crossing the squeaky floor to his hot plate and a pot full of his favorite Selesnyan tonic. 

He spilled. The bloody willow syrup. He felt so tense, well beyond his muscles and nerves, beyond bone even. This feeling – it was coming from the silent, spiritual place where mana cycled through him. It was almost as if something were sinking into one of his contract chains. Something with an electric kind of tooth to it— 

Oh. Tarnished bloody coins. It wasn’t the day that had him lock-stepped and chairbound. His hand grasped the neck of his tunic, tugging, making its toggles pop open. 

He had cast a limiter on the human guildmage. And forgotten to dissolve it. 

And now (oh, rotten fate!) he couldn’t dissolve it, because by some act of mana or sheer willpower, the guildmage had made the spell in some part his own. This was basic hieromancy! Tomik knew better than this. 

He knew that any tether made by binding magics could be tapped, exploited, and altered by the bindee’s will. That’s why a good contract mage, advokist, arbiter, or otherwise, regularly groomed his chains with galvanizing mana and was never, ever so lax as to forget a contract he had made. 

That was why a good contract mage never made a one-sided contract. Something like, say, a limiter cast on a helpless wounded man…why, what corrupt coinfucker would do a thing like that… 

Tomik abandoned his spilled tonic syrup and crawled (it felt like bloody crawling) to the clerical room beneath the entry to Stein’s roost. There, where his advokist’s robe hung, was the lockbox with his aura-gifted, miniature flitgoyle contained inside. He fumbled for the lock, then wrote on the flitgoyle’s parchment: 

_Teysa, I realize now I have made a grave mistake. I will remedy my misstep and be an advokist worthy of my benefactor’s high name. No need to send word when the Izzet mages are ready. I will be the one to approach them. I’m going now, in full haste. With Total Loyalty From Your Steadfast Advokist, Tomik Vrona._

____

____

The ease with which he used advokist’s decorum, even when his spellcraft was slowly being hacked by another mage, disturbed him. Without wasting another moment feeling disturbed, he stuffed the flitgoyle with his note, then wisped an agonizing ray of white mana from his palm to activate its aura. 

It would fly fast on Orzhova’s gift, and suck the life out of anyone who tried to intercept it. A surefire way to get messages to Teysa without fearing Lazav’s spies. 

He didn’t stop to dress in his needlessly unwieldy advokist’s robes. Though they’d grant him immediate immunity to trouble, and every fiber of his lawful self begged him not to take the risk, he just didn’t have time. 

Drat. Shame this had to happen in the middle of rush hour. 

Tomik hustled his groaning limbs up the steps to Stein’s roost. “Oi. Oi, Stein. You’d better wake up fast, buddy.” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------ 

A very, very curious crowd of Precinct One’s finest denizens had formed a ring around Ral and Ric-Rak. Not every day one witnesses man and goblin, both in hospital garb, one blazing electromana all over the place, sauntering down the vaunted streets surrounding Orzhova. 

Ral made the very firm decision not to look back at the fleshy army of thrulls that’d seemingly crawled from the cobblestones. He didn’t want to look overhead to confirm the shadows of hovering gargoyles, either. 

Either move would cause him to concede more ground to the limiter’s chains. Its links adored his panic, his fear, his thought that this was all usesless. He should just lie down and let Orzhova’s money lenders take very, very good care of him. 

_No, dammit, I didn’t come this far just to get dragged down by some binding spell._

____

____

This litany of self-hate reminded Ral an awful lot of a place he’d really rather not be. Lucky for him, and unluckily for the limiter’s caster, he had gotten very accustomed to shrugging off voices like this. He knew how to tell when they were really his own, and when they’d been enhanced for another’s benefit. 

He made a fist laced with what tiny sparks he could muster. That tenuous hold on his conduit bought him enough strength to grit at Ric-Rak: 

“Remember how upset you were when I said the caster wasn’t in the hospital?” 

“Yeah?” Ric-Rak answered, then gathered a warning pulse of electromana in her hand. A thrull had gotten very close. 

“I hate to tell you they’re not even on this block. Straightest shot is that way.” Ral pointed with his electrified finger at a plaza beyond Orzhova’s garden. “I’m so sorry I assumed it had to be someone close by—“ 

“No skin off my big nose. I’m as good a conduit as you.” A small gargoyle dive-bombed the glass conduction chamber of Ral’s accumulator. Ric-Rak dodged, leaving the glass only dinged. “You best be okay with running. I can take these guys but—“ 

“I don’t want to wait around til the wights wake up, either. Run. Full tilt, across that plaza, aim for the weird rotunda.” 

“Weird rotunda!” Ric-Rak shrieked. Then she ran – storm and havoc, goblins were fast – and Ral fought the limiter’s crushing hopeless fist every leap of the way. 

_You can outrun thrulls and gargoyles. But you can’t outrun a wight, you can’t outrun a roc, or a bloody angel. And all of those are coming for you, Drizzlecaster, unless you lie down like you’re supposed to._

____

____

_Oh, that is pathetic, _Ral thought back. _Try a proper threat!___

_____ _

_____ _

_You are a witless rake and nothing but. There is not a scrap of you worth a man’s honest love, and you are far from free. You lost your freedom the day you took Nicol’s han—_

____

____

Ral ripped what had to be a bloody gouge into his palm with his fingernails. He outpaced Ric-Rak, knowing he couldn’t keep it up for long. That, at least, was a sad reality not amplified by the limiter. 

He could barely feel the marble pavestones beneath his bare feet. Running, he distantly realized, must blow with a broken, metal-fused arm. It didn’t seem to hold him back now. The pain of flexing and pinwheeling it about must belong to the part of his mind chained to the limiter. 

“Ay! Gargoyle ahead!” Ric-Rac cried. Ral tried commanding his eyes to search for it, but all they delivered was his now electricity-coated chain and its straight path to a gray and blazing white blob. The chain burned holes in his eyes: literal holes or metaphorical ones? Impossible to tell. 

The unmistakable metallic smell of discharged electromana brushed Ral’s nostrils. Ric-Rak, barely in his narrow field of vision, had let loose a stab of blue-white lightning that tore the gray part of the hovering blob to bits. The glowing white part clung to a hunk of floating debris, and Ral felt the chain draw him toward it. 

“Don’t fire again!” Ral called. Ric-Rak grabbed him around the leg – to stop him from falling on his face, he realized. He watched the white blob splish from gray hovering blob to gray hovering blob, then come to rest on his level. When it approached, Ral really did fall to one knee. 

The limiter had looped its final link around his heart. He had to give up— 

“Take this bloody chain off me!” he barked. Like a scalded dog. He wanted to tell Ric-Rak to blast the white blob off the face of Ravnica…but knew better than that. Better not to murder, as much as he wanted to, the bloody caster of a contract spell. 

Realization clarified Ral’s vision and widened his focus. The gray blobs registered as broken bits of a gargoyle. The white blob materialized into first a hand, then an arm, then a face sporting narrow glasses. Fair hair, big jaw – oh Rix’s gash, this was the advokist from earlier today. 

“Accept my formal apology, Ric-Rak and Ral Zarek. Mostly you Ral Zarek.” 

Ral’s head slumped down to look at the electrified chain stretching from his chest to the advokist’s firm fist. Its coating of electromana stopped a few links from his fingers. “Formal apology not accepted til you take the thing off me—“ 

“I can’t,” came back at him calmly. “You altered it, and now you own this chain as much as I do. Er…I own it mostly. But the binding spell is also yours now.” 

“So what do I do? Wish it away?” As he demanded this, Ral noticed a ghostly wight and grimy thrulls had come close to the advokist, as well as hospital staff and a few gold-clad knights. The advokist assured them that he could peacably sort out this misundertanding. 

_Peacable? _Ral raged. _Wait til I – oh, no, fighting is useless you dumb rake – damn this stupid thing!___

_____ _

_____ _

“It still has command of you, so wishing won’t do,” the advokist said. “I will vow to break the bond, and you will release your electromana from it. It’ll be hard – the limiter will only tighten if you use your power—“ 

“I figured,” Ral cut. 

“But you’ve already proven you can resist it. Tap into your, er, electromana, or however those of the Izzet do it. On my word…now.” 

Ral admitted he didn’t have much practice disspiating or dialing back his power. But he knew how to form it into light-emitting static, so he started there. The limiter helped him push his power away, and drive the electromana back into bare, traceless wisps of blue and red mana. 

As his power shed away from the chain, its links crumbled. Cracking, fracturing into nothing. Or…to pure black and white mana, as his had also been reduced to its purest elements. 

When the chain had vanished entirely, and Ral could very much breathe free and feel the full pain of his wrecked arm, the advokist offered his hand. Ral declined it. 

“I would say this was a wasted experiment,” he breathed, finding his feet. “But I’ve never had my lightning unmade before. That’s a first. Ric, you saw that?” 

“Yeah,” Ric-Rak answered. “We’ll have to pitch a new theory to Niv…this has so much potential for tuning and untuning native mizzium—” 

“Speaking. Of mizzium,” the advokist said abruptly. “I have a –“ he glanced around at the crowd of onlookers and Orzhovan enforcers waiting to dole out justice in the name of cold cash. “You must want to discuss your debts to the hospital now and reparations for the damage. I can help you manage this—“ 

“Uh, no—“ 

“Please allow me,” the advokist said firmly. In a way that made Ral feel very done here, and very willing to succumb to the pain wrenching up his arm. Not because any limiter made him do it. But because it hurt like he imagined a night with Rakdos might. 

Ral slumped into Ric-Rak’s knobby arms. “I…feel awful." 

He felt Ric-Rak get ready for another blast – this time at the ghosts and doctors nosing his way like carrion-eaters. 

“I’ll pay for his full, immediate treatment, and the mage Ric-Rak’s,” the advokist announced before Ric-Rak could loose a manapulse at the doctors. The thrulls perked at the word pay – their gelatinous corpse-bodies shivering at the notion of coin. Ral wanted to vomit – and he did, a little, given his arm had pained him to the point of nausea. 

“You can’t be serious,” he groaned at the advokist. 

“It’s fair recompense for what I did.” 

He said the last bit almost threateningly. Ral tried biting his tongue but it didn’t stop him from jabbing: “Oh, you mean casting a li—“ 

The Orzhov mage shot him a silencing look. 

“A lousy way to spend my day. On me. You know what, nevermind. Give me the instant treatment, I don’t care any more.” 

As the ghosts re-entered him and the doctors loaded him into the arms of a stinky thrull, Ral sank into painless, limiter-free awareness. It honestly felt nice. Especially nice when garnished with the image of Ric-Rak aiming an electrified gauntled at the advokist. He heard her soothing chatter as he was carried away. 

“Now, you big cashfingering advokist man, you come right into the hospital with me and you pay up, right now. My tailbone hurts real bad and it sure won't fix itself.” 

The ghosts hampered Ral’s ability to laugh. Ah well. If this advokist were as good as his word, he could laugh later. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The doctors gave Ral time to dress himself, and to look at his scars. Small, uneven dots rose where the metal pins had been in his bone. A line of them disrupted the scales of his world-wurm tattoo. That…it should’ve made him mad, but he didn’t have the energy for it. 

______________________Several ghosts and a talented mendmage were all it had taken to instantly fix his arm. He felt uncomfortable thinking about how far a luxury like that was from his actual reach. How far it had been all his life._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________Ah well. Whatever the advokist had paid, it was too much. These gougers couldn’t even erase the scars. A Selesnya healer would’ve done better. Even a Gruul one would have at least respected the sanctity of his tattoo._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________The broken lines and bumps in the world-wurm’s scales honestly made him dreary. He imagined the great mythic beast spanning the world, raising oceans and seeding storms, curling its tail around Vitu-Ghazi and all the life on Ravnica…pierced by Azor’s rod of justice._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________All this time it had slithered unharmed in his imagination and on his skin. Now it, as fated, had suffered being pierced by rods._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________Ral covered the marred scales with his hand, and himself with his laundered mage’s clothes. He guessed he knew how it felt to be the punctured world-wurm. Beyond literal puncturing, the wave of thoughts and memories brought on by the limiter also had done their share of stabbing._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________He counted things to be grateful for. Alive, healed, without debt, still a contender for the Maze. Not under an exhausting magical compulsion to be sad. So he should stop being sad, dammit._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________He just needed rest. The buzz and hum of mage housing in Nivix would be a welcome lullaby. With sleep in mind he notified the ghost medics he’d be very presently going._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________In the lobby he found Ric-Rak, still in her hospital shift, still wearing his accumulator. “Ric, you didn’t have to wait up for me—“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“You didn’t want an ally in case someone pulled another stunt on you? Help me with this blasted strap—“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________Ral pulled the accumulator’s canister from magnetic pegs on the harness. He back-bled, then disassembled the flexible feed lines linking its parts. He packed the lines and gauntlet into the bottom of the big canister. “Easier to take off if you break it down,” he said to Ric-Rak’s incredulous look._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“I do not wanna think about the time it took you to engineer that,” she stated, sliding out of the harness and handing it to Ral. He slung it and the hip can over his shoulder._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“That advokist. Was he true to his word?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“Yeah,” Ric-Rak answered. “I watched him sign the writ of payment. He took on the cost of reanimating the thrulls I zapped, too. He did say he wanted to talk to us after we were healed up. His name’s Tomik Vrona. I personally don’t have a lick of interest in seeing him again.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“I don’t either. But I do want to make it clear to him that he can’t just walk away from putting that…lousy day on me. I’ll go for the closure.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“And stay for the sex—“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“Bad timing, Ric,” Ral sighed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________Ric-Rak admitted she’d been inappropriate with a wave of her clawed hand. Ral realized…she must really trust him if she were willing to back off from a lewd remark. He must have become friends with her in their time stuck in the electromancy lab. Damn._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“Do your friend a favor and watch your back, drizzlemage,” Ric-Rak said as she ambled off._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“I will,” Ral said without a clever nickname to add. He fought a spike of distrust with the logical answer _you didn’t confirm or deny you were her friend. It’s fine for now. Address it later if you have to._______________________

_____ _

_____ _

________________________When Ric-Rak had gone, Ral went to the help desk to ask if he could see his bill. He had to be sure – Niv’s balls, the debt for his instant recovery was overwrit with “covered by Tomik Vrona, Advokist to Lady Teysa Karlov.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________While his tired mind strained to process that hit, it grappled a second. Tomik hadn’t paid for the first part of Ral’s hospital bill. The cheaper, but still cripplingly expensive surgery. That was definitely a point he was going to bring up in their meeting._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Ral took tired, but free steps into the drowsy evening air of Precinct One. This unfamiliar neighborhood evidently wasn’t a busy one by night. No thrulls lurched after him or gargoyles hovered as he set off for the nearest night-wurm stop that could take him to Nivix. Wherever that might be. He might as well find that first before setting off after this Tomik guy._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Guildmage Zarek,” said a voice from a bench just outside the hospital’s doors, lit by a streetlight. Ral recognized the square jaw and squared-off glasses of advokist Tomik. “I’m glad to see your healing was fast. I saw guildmage Ric-Rak on her way out and, while she expressed no desire to speak with me, she said you were ame—“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Stop…” Ral adjusted his severe tone. “Talking to me like I’m you’re next contract. You said you wanted to talk, well, explain to me why you put a limiter on me.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Ral was no expert in info trafficking, but he did know that often, truths uttered outdoors were safest from detection. He was careful to say limiter in a low, calm voice anyway._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“I was concerned that in the throes of pain, you’d hurt yourself or me with your power. I’m ashamed to say I don’t trust or understand elemental mages. I cast what I thought was a small safety net for you…and it was wrong of me to do it.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Not wrong enough for you to take it off after I got dumped here?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“I…ah. Forgot. I forgot it was there.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“You forgot an illegal spell of that kinda magnitude?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“It was such a small spell, and I have many greater binding magics to juggle, so yes. It got lost in the tangle.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Ral reeled to think of any limiting act of magic as small spellwork. If that little limiter had been this advokist at his smallest, Ral did not want to know what his greatest looked like. “Do you realize what your little spell felt like? Are you aware of what it really does—“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Yes. All advokists learn limiters, we all have had them cast upon us in training. The arresters turn blind eyes when we do it. So. It’s all wrong and I’m sorry I did it despite knowing better.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Paying for my instant recovery did a lot to get you right with me.” Damn, he was exhausted, and starting to sound like the streets he’d come from. “But you didn’t cover all of it. Kinda a half-cocked apology if you ask me.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Teysa Karlov will cover your full bill if—“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Why’s there always an if with you people?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Hear me out. Teysa will cover everything, even damages your drake caused, if you help her acquire mizzuim.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Ral plunked his accumulator on the side of the bench the spotlight didn’t cover. In the blackness of the city’s night he muttered: “there’s a huge crystal right here. I’ll give it to you right now.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Tomik edged closer to the shadowline. He seemed to disbelieve._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Not dust, not droplets – an actual nature-formed crystal bigger than your hand.” He unscrewed the conduction chamber from its brass housing, never more thankful that he kept the rig so well oiled. It didn’t make a peep as he dismembered it down to the mesh bed he’d carefully welded to fit the exact shape of this crystal._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Tomik peered into the guts of his accumulator. Ral would never have trusted him to peek at his design – if he weren’t tired and certain this hieromage knew fuck-all about electromancy. “Tell me that’s not worth my hospital bill, and my freedom from you and Teysa.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“We’d still need someone to discharge and re-tune it.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Any sparkmage can do that. I’ll throw in the droplets in my mini-can, too, if it gets you off my back.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Discharging and tuning the crystal. Troubleshooting if needed. You and Ric-Rak go debt free, and you have a good reference here in Orzhova.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Ral loosely re-packed his accumulator’s guts, then tightly screwed the chamber back on. “You and me walk into that hospital and I watch you sign the papers. I and my crystal get a good night’s sleep. We go see Teysa in the morning. Fair?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“That is an amenable contract—“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Nope, for the love of Niv’s nonexistant brood, no contract. Just my word and trust that you won’t murder me in my sleep tonight. I assume I’m sleeping in Orzhova.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Tomik stood. “A bow seals a contract of words here in my precinct.” He held the bridge of his glasses as he gave Ral a pert bow. “It is sealed on good faith. Please follow me inside.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________\------------------------------------------------------------------_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Tomik, despite knowing his help was truly no help, insisted he stand guard as Ral Zarek unpacked the mizzium crystal. In a room of ghosts, knights sworn to silence, and Teysa, he did feel his presence superfluous._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Told you it was big,” Ral said to Teysa as he held the extracted crystal, in all its blue-white, sparking glory, for Tomik’s guildmaster to see. Teysa’s eyes glittered with the light of mizzium’s potential, and so did Ral’s._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________More like they glittered in the presence of a dear friend, Tomik thought. Ral shed pure glee as he said: “Don’t worry, I’m in full control…mostly. You’re looking at electromantic energy gathered from a zonot storm and I really am sad to see it go. Oh well!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Tomik stooped to childish panic as the hairs on his head and in his nose began to tingle. the braver knights began to move towards Ral, and Teysa twitched as if called to stop him herself, but no move could match the speed and stopping power of lightning._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Tomik dropped to the floor with his eyes and ears shut tight against the blast. He heard nothing, saw nothing, until some base instinct told him the lightning and thunder had passed. A hole roughly ceiling-sized now yawned where the ceiling of the empty storehouse had been._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Told you we should’ve done it outside,” Ral laughed. Tomik noted the pattering of rain. Then, as he got to his feet…the patter became a deluge. Lightning flashed in the sky, and across the knuckles of Ral’s outspread hands. “Ahh, yes, this is a fine fucking storm we have here. Thank me later for the irrigation – your garden needed it.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Ral approached Teysa with storm-tossed hair and…maybe one more streak of white coursing through its black jaggedness. “Now, cover it,” he instructed, “Put your hands on it, and listen with your power. There’s a lot of interference, yeah? That’s the blue and red mana it and I just spit up all over the place.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“This is difficult,” Teysa frowned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Tomik teetered closer, against his better judgment. “I’ll help,” he said to Teysa. In full confidence with himself…if he were being fully honest…he wanted to be close enough to see Ral’s eyes. After a night thinking on it, he hadn’t let go of the info his mother had delivered to him, on the same bench where Ral had delivered his bargain of mizzium._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________He liked the idea that Ral had cycled back into his path. As he put his hands on the mizzium crystal beside Teysa’s, he admitted he liked the sound of Ral’s voice, made bolder by the storm cycling around him. He liked the possibility of a little unpredictable elemental force in his bed—_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________________________Oh. My, by Karlov’s dead ass, don’t get too far ahead of yourself. _Tomik scolded himself. He listened to Ral’s coaching, pushing aside the chatter of rain and lightning, focusing on the mana he himself was linked to, that persisted, in the space between the storm, in great quantities here in Orzhova.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________The crystal stopped echoing sounds of rain and thunder. It sent softer pulses into Tomik’s manasense, of thrulls jiggling sleeplessly in dens underfoot, of coins dropped into oblation jars in the cathedral…of his people and their twin domionion of black and white mana._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“Looks like you both got it perfect on your first try,” Ral said, folding his arms. “Color me impressed. Take my suggestion, noble guildmaster, get that thing into hiding as fast as possible before all of Nivix tracks this storm back to me. As in lock it up now.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Teysa gripped the crystal to her chest and marched off, cane tapping on cobblestones, under tight knightly guard._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Tomik didn’t follow her. He had to tie things neatly up with Ral. Secure his loyalty and an actual contract. For Teysa’s sake, yes. Only for the honor of his Guildmaster. “What are you going to tell your guild?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“About the storm?” Ral grinned. “About me spending a night in Orzhova? I…” he put a hand to his mouth and thunder made up his answer._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“Come in out of the rain with me. I have options for you.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“Of course you do,” Ral quipped._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________In a blessedly dry, warm lounge, after Teysa’s servitor mages had enchanted he and Ral’s clothing with dryness, Tomik followed through with this duty to Orzhova. “Teysa could use your skills to help put that crystal to full use. It would require a magical contract this time, and of course good pay. I am willing to include Orzhov silence about your ehm…donation as part of the terms.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“Keep my donation airtight. I’ll think about Teysa’s offer,” Ral answered._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“I can help you devise a logical excuse for the storm.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“I’d rather say I stayed the night with an attractive advokist, and felt a little sloppy the next day.” Ral held his breath after speaking. In Tomik’s stunned silence he breathed: “That was grimy, I’m sorry. Uhm. Failed jokes aside, would you chance getting to know me. Personally.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“After I put a limiter on you, and browbeat you into giving up your…making your donation?” Tomik knew he sounded like his patronizing father, and must look like him, raised brows and everything._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“Apparently I’m not bothered enough by all that to give up my hope you like men.” He gestured to himself. “This man. After everything that happened.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“I would not mind seeing you again,” Tomik answered plainly. _If I even can be seen with this specific guildmage, and expect to keep my job _“Please understand, I have to be professional, though…”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________“I haven’t signed anything yet,” Ral shrugged. He stood, shouldering the canvas bag Tomik had given him to mask his disassembled gadget. “Pick a place. Time. Get back to me.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________“Tomorrow, midday. The Concourse, iced strawberry vendor.” Tomik smiled at Ral’s surprised look. “I’m chronically single and a bureaucrat. You think I don’t have my first date perfectly planned?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________“Barring drakes, limiters, and broken bones, I’ll be there.” Ral said softly. He turned and in his stride Tomik saw someone powerfully out of his element. He threaded through clusters of seated Orzhov supplicants and advokists, as if he couldn’t wait to get out of Orzhova’s dry halls and back to the crush of wind and rain outside._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________\------------------------------------------------------------------_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________Greenery, the smell of beasts, and the smell of Viashino curry weren’t bad. Neither was a second round of iced strawberries, though Ral joked that he’d need the hottest curry Ravnica had to chase away the sweet. The crystal frosting looked so perfect and pretty in the dappled light – enough to make him forget about the hidden, mana-drenched fields that’d spawned it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________He and Tomik had already made one full loop around the inner concourse. Ral wanted to make it two. He’d ridden on Tomik’s poor cobbled gargoyle part of the way here, and had to say, lining where he was now against where he and that shattered gargoyle had last been…it was weird._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________Walking next to Tomik, the both of them without guild insignia and perceivable cares…that was a welcome thing to Ral’s caffeine-addled, gear-pinching, ambition-crazed brain. For a breath or two, he enjoyed the shape of Tomik ambling beside him. Taller than Ral, fed better than him, better-looking._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________Maybe that wasn’t fair to himself. But he could definitely see, in the reflections of the concourse’s many pools, how a bright, full face and a square jaw, on an invitingly plush body, would be preferable to the stubbly chin, strung-out grin, and twig-thin frame of someone who kept all of his self in Nivix._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________He and Tomik had already exchanged ages, birth months, and favorite pastimes. Tomik had a long list of leisurely pursuits, which took Ral out of touch with him and made him wonder…was there any point in romancing like this when he had so much to hide? When they both had so many rules to impose for the sake of their blasted guilds._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____________________________It’s only the first damn outing, _Ral griped to himself. _Nothing’s been written in the sky. Just enjoy the view._______________________________

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________________________________They did the loop a second time, then the circuit beyond, looking at shops selling things Ral could never justify spending money on. Tomik came very close to brushing his hand a few times – must be that single bureaucrat’s longing he’d mentioned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________On the way back to the gargoyle Ral caved and admitted he was hungry. Flaming hot – and not in the least bit hot – paper packets of Viashino curry delayed Ral’s stay with Tomik a little longer. In all the places he’d traveled, and through all the bizzarre things he’d seen, he’d found eating beside another person among to be the most reliable icebreaker he knew._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________“How…hot is that?” Tomik inquired. His mistake. The answer was very hot and luckily they both could laugh about it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________“You get a taste for it, being stationed with Viashino scorchbringers,” Ral said, and censored the rest of his thoughts on the viashino curry of other planes. He held his tongue until he and Tomik had gotten back to the gargoyle. Where. Tomik touched his gargoyle’s cracked haunch and it lowered a pockmarked wing to shield them from view._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________“Look, I haven’t decided about the contract yet,” Ral offered, to cut out any guessing._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________“This is not about the contract,” Tomik laughed. “It’s about me wanting to kiss you.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________“Oh. In that case absolutely yes. Sign me on.” Ral hesitated to follow through, feeling exposed despite the gargoyle’s shield. This wasn’t his usual nightly encounter, no clothes, no shame kind of thing. This was the middle of the day in Precinct Three. No reckless kissing to be had here._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________“Oh good, well I can’t go on without disclosing something my mother told me she heard when she was…inside your head.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________Ral froze. _Why is he bringing his ghost mother into this…what am I about to hear…_________________________________

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__________________________________“Let’s just say: you were delirious in your judgment of me. I would kill to look as good as you said I do.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________________“Oh Niv’s balls—“ _she heard my thoughts._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___

____________________________________“Now don’t try to convince me otherwise – if we are going to press on you have to concede to this one fact. I am average at best.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________“I concede?” Ral offered. He let Tomik’s kiss slip onto his mouth, then showed it a thing or two about what a kiss could be. If it was going to be a damned kiss in daylight, for the first time ever, from lips as soft as Tomik’s, it had damned well better be good._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________If it was going to conclude a saga of nearly dying, getting patched up, and dismantling his beloved accumulator, it might as well conclude with Ral falling headlong into Tomik, the contract broker, the limiter caster’s welcoming mouth._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________When their mouths split, Ral realized he and Tomik stood chest-to-chest against the gargoyle’s crumbly hide. Tomik assessed himself. Assessed Ral. “Oi, Stein,” he whispered up at his gargoyle’s shattered ear. “I think myself, and Ral, want to go back home. Would you like a visitor?” After a beat Tomik whispered, “he won’t answer. So. Want to go back with me?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________A sure yes got Tomik straddling the saddle and reaching his long arms down to help Ral join him. Takeoff didn’t involve a sudden jolt or turbulence of wings, but even so Ral leaned into Tomik’s back, drawn to the idea of hasping his arms around his waist._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________Asking first was, without question, the right thing to do. Tomik wriggled into him, said yes, and eased into Ral’s touch. With his chin perched on Tomik’s shoulder, Ral shared the retreating sight of Vitu Ghazi with a companion he barely knew._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________________Flying on a gargoyle, in many ways, beat flying on a drake._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
